The Futile Pursuit of Happiness Over the past few years, a group of experimental economists have begun to question the decision-making process that shapes our sense of well-being: how do we predict what will make us happy or unhappy -- and then how do we feel after the actual experience? For example, how do we suppose we'll feel if our favorite college basketball team wins or loses, and then how do we really feel a few days after the game?

Friday, September 12, 2003

The family that steals together . . . pays fines together. Okay, so it doesn't rhyme. But do you guys remember that subscription fee based group that paid fines for its members for breaking some crime or other? Could something like that work for music swappers, or would it be prosecutable under RICO?

Foreign Policy: What’s the fastest route to economic development? Welcome foreign direct investment (FDI), says China, and most policy experts agree. But a comparison with long-time laggard India suggests that FDI is not the only path to prosperity. Indeed, India’s homegrown entrepreneurs may give it a long-term advantage over a China hamstrung by inefficient banks and capital markets.

Thursday, September 11, 2003

The Internet Book Race: In an article in the June issue of Quantitative Marketing and Economics, Professor Goolsbee and Judith Chevalier, an economist at the Yale School of Management, figured out how to turn the book rankings into sales figures. They then recorded prices and sales for more than 18,000 titles at three points in 2001, when Amazon tested various pricing strategies and BN.com responded. With that information, they examine how price changes at one site affect sales by both that retailer and its competitor.

Michael Dirda (washingtonpost.com): "You would think parents would be proud of such a child. Yes and no. In fact, Cecilia's mother and father want her to go to Harvard, Stanford or U.C. Berkeley. When she spoke to them about becoming an artist, they threw her portfolio into the street, then made her wait half an hour while cars ran over an entire year's work before they allowed her to retrieve the drawings and paintings. Similarly, when one of her classmates, Angela, asked for a sewing machine to work on an art project, her parents subjected the sensitive girl to ridicule, then reminded her that they hadn't sacrificed so that she could become a 'seamstress.' "